HAZLITT, William.

£975 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Political Essays, with Sketches of Public Characters. First edition of Hazlitt's collection of his political writings from the previous two decades. "With his collected Political Essays Hazlitt ended his activities as controversial journalist... Hazlitt's Preface is characteristically fierce, and the whole book has a strong political flavour" (Keynes)."Though a miscellany of previously published occasional journalism, it nevertheless offers a fine introduction to the sharpness of Hazlitt's prose and the spice of his convictions - his faith in Napoleon, his hatred for Pitt, his uneasy admiration of Burke, his dismay at the apostasy of Coleridge and Southey" (ODNB).The copy is in a publisher's remainder binding, from around the late 1820s to 1840 - Keynes notes that the book appears to have sold slowly, was still being advertised as late as the 1840s, and is found in a variety of bindings. The printed paper label advertises the price of 14 s., apparently preceding a cut to 6s. 6d. noted by Keynes. The ownership signature helfpully gives a cut-off date for issue of 1840.

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